A free society requires freedom of speech. We need to be able to challenge ideas, to share ideas and to criticize ideas. But we've evolved the concept of Freedom of Speech to also recognize that your right to yell "Fire!" in a crowded theater should be infringed----you could cause harm to others. Physical harm. My right to Freedom of Speech ends when it creates physical harm for another.

That's reasonable. But exactly how far can one go in their cry for Freedom of Speech? Take a look at this video:

Freedom of Speech. Who has it? Where does it end? It looks to me like Andrew Myers (despite being an attention-seeking jack-ass) is paying for exercising his Freedom of Speech---with physical harm and an arrest record. I watched several different videos of this incident. Yes, he was annoying. But I'm not entirely sure it was reasonable for the (campus?) police to escort him from the room. That alone is a tough call.

At one point, a large black cop bodily lifted Mr. Meyers to the back of the room. So why were there at least six police officers surrounding him (one pointing her finger in his face!)? Why didn't they escort him completely from the room? Why the use of force? I thought police officers were only supposed to resort to force if threatened. I doubt anyone can tell me this single, unarmed student was threatening six or more police officers. Furthermore, I never saw him make an aggressive move, only wiggling and struggling. He never attacked, never threw a punch. But they tasered him anyway. And what was the result? He was still struggling and making as much noise after the tasering, as before. And then the ushered him from the room. Any scene the police were trying to prevent, they instead created.

By trying to remove Mr. Myers from the room, the incident escalated beyond reason and appeared (to me) to become an issue of power: the police officers had it and no one wanted to cross that line to challenge their right to physically harm Mr. Myers. Even Senator Kerry continued his attempts to answer the questions posed by Mr. Myers. Like the guy is really listening while the cops have him pinned down and are tasering him!

I watched the video, knowing what was coming, so his cries for help early on affected me. But, sitting there, having listened to some jerk rant at the public microphone, yeah, I probably would have applauded his removal as well. That doesn't make what happened next right.

It escalated so quickly after that, what could I (had I been there) have done and when? I was taught that the police are "officers of the law" and "here to protect you". I don't have the right mental thinking to consider police as the aggressors. I've only just begun to consider them as a law unto themselves (especially when I read about their Thin Blue Line stickers).

In a couple of videos, you can hear the people near the tasering say things like, "Police brutality!" and "Stop it, he's down!" It's hard to hear, but you can hear that people nearby are somewhat upset at this happening.

But no one acted. Would you?

Please leave a comment---anonymous or otherwise---and share with me your thoughts on this incident. I'm truly surprised at the number of articles I've already seen attacking Mr. Myers and praising the tasering.